Too fluffy. I am sure all these would look better in a series of blog posts. It's a collection of all she's done and how she got to actually see her neighbours and now she's pointing the reader to love one another, especially those you don't give a second thought. It didn't do much for me. The writing is too pretentious and lyrical and it makes me lose my train of thought.

I absolutely loved this book!

I received an electronic copy of this book for free in exchange for my unbiased review but I want a physical copy to read and reread again and again.

I kept finding myself thinking, "yes" and "that's so true". Sometime in joy and sometime with the scrunched face of someone who had never thought of "it" like that before. I felt encouraged and challenged through the entire book.

As a white woman in the Midwest, I've lived a relatively privileged life. This is not to say there hasn't been hardship, as my family has struggled firsthand with suicide, mental illness, and the loss of a child. And yet, we have a certain amount of stability now. We have two delightful children. My husband and I both have college degrees and are gainfully employed. Life is comfortable. However, as a woman of faith, I see how Jesus lived his life. He sought out those who were marginalized, he upended everyone's expectations as to who mattered, granting value and dignity to all. He was present to those who were struggling, welcoming them to himself. How do I reconcile these disparate examples? Is giving generously enough to free us from other obligations? And when we admit that it isn't, what other steps should be taken?

The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God's Goodness Around You by Shannan Martin was a powerful, beautifully written call to challenge us in our comfort, to urge us to do the big, hard everyday work around us, to be vulnerable, transparent, and generous. Martin writes of the comfortable life she and her husband had, then the growing conviction that that wasn't enough.

They moved to a different neighborhood and her husband became the chaplain at the prison; slowly they opened their home and their lives. Martin is quick to mention how this is not an example of them being noble, reaching out to those less than; instead, she admits how she is rocked by getting out of her echo chamber and learning what it is to be authentic, to be intentional, to be hospitable, to connect.

Martin frankly shares how her perspective steadily changed, and she doesn't shirk away from detailing the difficult relationships or the continued work taking place in herself and in her family. I found it a poignant, transparent reflection on how one can take steps to be less closed off and more vulnerable and I will be continuing to process this book.

I'm going to close with an excerpt from her introduction, a rallying cry to all of us:

"As Christ-followers, we are called to be long-haul neighbors committed to authenticity and willing to take some risks. Our vocation is to invest deeply in the lives of those around us, devoted to one another, physically close to each other as we breathe the same air and walk the same blocks. Our purpose is not so mysterious after all. We get to love and be deeply loved right where we're planted, by whomever happens to be near. We will inevitably encounter brokenness we cannot fix, solve, or understand, and we'll feel as small, uncertain, and outpaced as we have ever felt. But we'll find our very lives in this calling, to be among people as Jesus was, and it will change everything."

(I received a digital ARC from Nelson Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

A lot of parenting books (especially Christian parenting books) are really repetitive of each other, but this one was so refreshing to read! I actually purchased this one to have a physical copy to mark up and dog-ear. Great read!!

4.5 lovely stars, rounded up
“The details will look quiet and ordinary. They will exhaust and exhilarate us. But it will be the most worth-it adventure we will ever take.” Shannan Martin writes from the heart with skill. Her writing flows with rhythm, grace, and detail. “I want to be someone who clings to the grace and the gift and the good.” Living as active Christ followers “asks that we view our immediate world with fresh eyes to see how we might plant love with intention and grit….We will have to choose to widen our circle and allow our lives to become tangled up with those around us.”

Shannan tells the story of her family and how neighbors become family. Bible verses are occasionally included, but the book is never ‘preachy.’ She quotes renown writers like Henri Nouwen and Eugene Peterson, but their words support what she says, never overwhelming the story.

Not only do we need to pay attention to where God has placed us, we have to “fall in love with listening. God created our five senses as a way for us to understand our world – and Jesus referred to them often – but, as it turns out, talking is not one of them. “One needs to intentionally create silence in their day.

Openness, honesty and love radiate from Shannan’s words. She encourages us to take a risk and open our homes to connect with neighbors, not to impress them. Hospitality can also be inviting a friend to a park and bringing the tea. She also suggests we not invite anyone to church until we’ve already invited them over to our home. God says to love our neighbors. “love them like I love you. Love them with hot soup. Love them with humility. Love them by trusting them with your own failures. Point them to me. Pray for them. Rub their backs while they cry. Cheer them on because life is terribly unfair. Bake the cakes from a box, and sing to them on their birthdays.”

Shannon writes that there is “no such thing as a minor blessing.” I am grateful for her earthy, wise writing. I’m grateful for this book that encourages and inspires.

I’m grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book for an honest review.

This book may be one of my favorites of the year. It is what we need right now, especially in the Christian community. Loving our neighbors, in the mess, in the uncomfortable, as they are. My book was highlighted everywhere. It is about choosing connection over competition, giving more grace, showing compassion, and seeing the beauty and God in the everyday ordinary. I can’t wait to reread this one again.

This book is a close look at what it really means to be a neighbor, and how we treat each other in a society where we are taught to keep our distance.
Through personal stories, the author brings the reader into her life and the lives of those around her. She must find her footing in an environment she is completely unfamiliar with. It is through these stories that the human heart emerges, connecting us all through love and the human spirit. She opens our eyes to see how when we fall and have people there to catch us, often it is in the most unexpected of places. So pull up a preverbial chair around the authors kitchen table and open your heart to the passion of that special something that connects us all.

This book extols the beauty of finding God in the small places - your front porch, your unfinished basement, on a walk to school, and I love the idea of that! I think that is where lives are changed, and the author does a wonderful job of encouraging us to all look for opportunities to love our neighbors in the smallest places with big effects.

There is so much beautiful reflection in this book of encouragement and inspiration encouraging us to be neighbours and friends. It is not new information, just a real-life reflection on how the author was uprooted from a comfortable situation and had to find opportunities and connection in a new environment. It was non-fiction that I couldn’t put down – she spoke to my heart in an authentic lyrical way.

My only slight disappointment was that some of the stories reflected upon weren’t very “deep” or “gritty” but I pushed that aside as perhaps they weren’t the author’s stories to tell and she kept them superficial for anonymity purposes. Overall, I’d encourage you to pick up a copy of this one if you want to expand your fences, listen carefully, and learn to see opportunities in the ordinary and mundane.

Published by Thomas Nelson. Publication Date: October 9, 2018

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this title via NetGalley with thanks to the publisher and/or author. All opinions are my own.

#TheMinistryOfOrdinaryPlaces #NetGalley

Full review on my blog: Life, Love, Laughter... Linds: https://lifelovelaughterlinds.home.blog/2019/03/26/book-review-the-ministry-of-ordinary-places-by-shannan-martin/

Really liked this book! Sharon challenged me to look for God in the ordinary and to serve others in the ordinary. You don’t have to go far and wide to help others, in fact the best people to help are you neighbors that you can be in constant relationship with. Sharons stories inspired me!

Love the whole premise of this book-- that we don't have to be in a third world country to be ministers of the Gospel! Full of practical ideas and inspirational moments; love it.

Are you building your hospitality muscles, as is the trend in Christian circles these days? This book will challenge you to look at hospitality in a totally new way, stretching you to think outside the box.

Shannan Martin and her family live in a low-income area and build a unique ministry right from their own home. Though her husband serves in prison ministry, Shannan has a diverse, everyday ministry as a wife, mother and writer. This book challenged many of my preconceived notions about what ministry and hospitality looks like.

It was a slightly uncomfortable read for me, but not in a bad way. It challenged me to lay aside my hidden judgments and see others as precious children of God. The book’s language is unique as well, which caused me to slow down my normally fast reading pace and absorb the colorful stories.

The story that moved me most is when Shannan met with a woman who insisted on taking her out to lunch at Burger King. I appreciated the transparency and humility in her story and the spiritual lessons she shares from it. This is a book that I need to read again so I can glean even more truths from it.

Favorite Quotes from The Ministry of Ordinary Places:
Though our lives feel ordinary and small, we’re compelled by the possibility of making a difference where the problems loom large.
God is calling to us from the world we’re in. He wants to meet us right here.
Once we understand that pain is not an indictment on our faith, we’re at liberty to feel sadness with our joy, a sprinkling of salt on bittersweet chocolate.

Thanks to the BookLook Bloggers Program and Netgalley for providing me a review copy of The Ministry of Ordinary Places.

I was able to read this book shortly after having read her first book and it was great to see the continuation of her story. From letting go to having lived and continuing to live in “the Ordinary Places” her writing reminds us how and why to be present where we are and to consider if where we are is where we should be.

In some ways, this book is a follow-up to Martin's first book, "Falling Free," when the author and her family left behind the comfortable life they'd always known in the country to move to the other side of the tracks. I especially appreciated the tension she admitted to, as she got to know her neighbors and wanted to fully live as equals among one another. Her writing is lovely, and her love for Jesus is pure and strong.

A good thought provoking book about community and helping those around you . I enjoyed it .
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

For years I’ve tried to find the extraordinary in my ordinary and so Shannan Martin’s book titled “The Ministry of Ordinary Places” really called out to me. I think I somewhat expected essays on gratitude and simple joys — this book was not that. Well actually, it IS, but in a much different way.

Shannan and her husband left their safe haven acreage to live in the inner city. They had already adopted 3 young children, and later adopted a 19-year-old, and welcome all their neighbors into their home and life as family. While her life looks much different than mine in the suburbs I think our hearts beat the same – to love our neighbors just as they are and to live life with them.

This book will challenge you and it, along with Shannon’s beautiful writing style, will inspire you to seek more of Christ, to recognize the sacred and the extraordinary right where you are, right in the middle of your ordinary life, in your ordinary neighborhood. If we start paying attention, showing up and committing for the long haul, we might soon discover it’s not all so ordinary after all.

“Making the world better for one person makes the world better.“
– Shannan Martin

Sometimes it’s hardest to see where we fit in the big things. When we look at the masses, we don’t see individuals. We don’t know who to love. We’re not sure how to love them. If we can’t do something big, we think we can’t make a difference at all.

But that’s faulty thinking according to Shannan Martin.

“We are all longing to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Sometimes we get so hung up on doing something great, we forget the best thing is often the smallest.”

If you need reminding of how much little things matter, look at her stories in this book. She shows us how unprepared she was to love the poor, the needy, the displaced. Yet one person at a time, one occasion at a time, she just did her thing. Small things. Imperfect things. Sometimes things halfway.

And those things made a difference.

“Every Sunday I’m inclined to believe that making the world a better, brighter place might really be as simple as making lunchtime brighter for one person.”

I highly recommend The Ministry of Ordinary Places. It will encourage you to love right where you are.

My thanks to Net Galley for the review copy of this book

I enjoyed so many things about this book and it challenged me in a lot of areas that I wasn't expecting. The content of this book is wonderful but what made it difficult to put down was the beautiful voice in which Shannan writes with. She describes things so beautifully and I immensely enjoyed her writing style. This book has challenged me to think about how I relate to my neighbors and how to pour into the lives of those who are often overlooked or who people often just write off because of their lifestyle or past mistakes. This is one of those books that I think will stick with me for a long time and will hopefully inspire me into action when it comes to loving my neighbor.

I really enjoyed his book. Martin has an easy-to-read style that is sometimes flowery but not overly so. Her life experiences are a wonderful encouragement for all of us to stop and consider those who are right next door. We don't have to do something huge to be counted for Christ. Ministering where you are to those who need the hands and feet of Jesus is the highest calling. This book was encouraging to me, and I think anyone who loves the Lord and wants to serve Him in any capacity ought to read it. Highly recommended.

The Ministry of Ordinary Places by Shannan Martin is a book that everyone should read. Men, women, young, old— we can all benefit from the message of this book. Life can feel so ordinary and it is natural to want to stand out as special. Ms Martin simply but thoroughly points out how Christ intends for us to be ordinary, to minister thoroughly where we are. Just as He came as an ordinary man. This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend that it be read and re-read. Its message is one we need frequently. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.